


Villains Out Shopping

by Apricot



Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Curtain Fic, F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, Season/Series 01 Spoilers, Slow Burn, Sorry IKEA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-10 15:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7850338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apricot/pseuds/Apricot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elijah and Rebekah take Hayley shopping. It goes about as well as one could hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Villains Out Shopping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Taste_of_Suburbia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_of_Suburbia/gifts).



> Set in the time between 1x20 and 1x21.

“You might want to be elsewhere,” Klaus said, with an air of grave pronouncement.

Elijah raised a brow from his position at the desk.

“I believe I was elsewhere-“ he pointed out. “Seeing as you just came in here to rudely interrupt my book.”

“Elsewhere as in another building or city,” Klaus said, before he swept into the armchair across from his brother. “Hayley’s on the warpath. I think those hormones have finally kicked in. She’s tearing the nursery apart.”

Elijah raised his eyes. “Is she all right?”

It must have sounded a fraction too quick and concerned, because Klaus threw him a knowing look that turned into a smirk as he shrugged. “She’s probably just finally getting into that motherly _nesting_ stage. It’s about time, really, but since the apocalypse seems to be happening every five seconds in the French Quarter and she’s recently back from camping in mud huts with swamp wolves, maybe it’s the first opportunity she’s had.” His brother pressed his fingertips lightly to his temples in an overly-affected gesture of tension. “She told me I was  _breathing down her neck_.”

Elijah turned a page in the book, although he’d stopped paying attention to the words. “How very harsh of her.”

“I’m not supposed to be the nice one,” Klaus said, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

“Yes, it’s good practice for you, isn’t it?”

There was a crash somewhere down the hall, toward the direction of the other side of the house that made both of them tense just a little. There was a moment of quiet before Hayley began to curse furiously- not loudly, but loud enough that an Original vampire could make out a surprisingly inventive stream of obscenities. Klaus relaxed back with what seemed like supreme effort.

A secondary, smaller crash finally had Elijah up, putting the book down before he ventured out.

There was a large dresser lying face down on the ground in front of the doorway to the nursery down the hall. Hayley was bent over it, cursing under her breath. In an instant, Elijah was standing beside her.

“May I offer some assistance?”

Hayley blew a strand of hair out of her face and glared up at him. “No.”

She bent down to pick it up again and Elijah got there first, the heavy wood groaning a little as he set it right.

“Thanks,” she said, with a hint of a grudge in her tone. “It wasn’t heavy. I could have gotten it.”

“I know,” he said lightly, and Hayley frowned before finally exhaling, brushing her hair back with her fingers.

“I got it mostly out,” she added.

Elijah perked a brow, and she finally brushed off her dress with another frown before slipping back inside the nursery. The room wasn’t exactly in shambles, but it was untidy. The pictures- save Klaus’ painting- had been taken down off the walls and the furniture had been rearranged in odd angles, as if someone hadn’t quite decided where things should go quite yet.

“Nothing’s heavy, just unwieldy,” Hayley said, as if to stave off any protest he’d make. She crossed her arms and glared. Elijah did not take the bait. He glanced back at the large dresser that she’d hauled out by the doorway.

“Can I ask what’s wrong with-?”

Hayley merely raised her eyebrows. “I hate it.”

He waited a second for her to clarify further, but she didn’t, and after a beat he decided not to press. If Hayley was – in his brother’s diagnosis,  _nesting-_  then applying logic and reason to the situation might not be the best course of action.

“Well, I’m sure we can find something more to your taste,” he finally offered.

“I want to have picked out  _one thing_ by myself, Elijah,” Hayley interrupted, gesturing at the room around her. “This room is just-“ She made a frustrated sound.

Elijah thought the room was very tasteful, but again, it didn’t feel like the right response to that. “I’m sure Niklaus-“  
  
Hayley exhaled heavily. “I  _don’t_  want Klaus to do anything else- so you better not say anything to him.”

Thankfully, his brother seemed intent on hiding from Hayley’s wrath at the moment, so he didn’t think he’d object.

Hayley peered at him, taking his silence as condonation.  “I want to go buy some things myself.”

Ah. Elijah considered that. Hayley pressed forward, crossing her arms. “I thought I’d just get a car and take off, but I thought that if I suddenly just disappeared-“  
  
“All hell would break loose?” Elijah offered, giving her a slight smile.  
  
“Again,” Hayley said dryly.

Elijah considered that. “I won’t say anything,” he said. “If I go with you.” At Hayley’s look, he raised his hand in a defensive gesture. “Think of me as someone willing to do the heavy lifting rather than protection.”

From the look on her face, she wasn’t completely appeased, but after a second, the tension around her mouth softened.

“Fine,” she said. “But I  _don’t_  want Klaus to be there-“

“I should think he’ll be fine letting me distract you for a few hours,” Elijah said, as tactfully as he could manage.

Hayley pursed her lips in an attempt to hide a twitch of a smile.

* * *

His brother had been too preoccupied with Genevieve to be curious about their sudden mission, and too miffed that he'd been so insulted by Hayley to care. Niklaus had deemed to take his revenge by ignoring them utterly. And with his brother, that was the best possible outcome imaginable.

Getting out of the city proved to be…refreshing. It was a long time since he’d simply driven somewhere, for an extended period of time. Hayley was curled into the passenger seat, watching the city roll into highways and deep green foliage. Her hand rested gently over the curve of her stomach, a gesture she had picked up in the time since she’d been living in the Bayou.

It was difficult not to watch her.

It was even more difficult not to think about a few nights before and the feel of her mouth underneath his. They hadn’t spoken of it at all, and he hadn’t allowed himself in indulging in remembering it- it made it all the more difficult to resist the urge to do it again.

They passed the drive mostly in comfortable silence, Hayley watching the scenery, his eyes mostly on the road.

“This is nice,” she said, after a long while, before she glanced at him. “I never thought I’d miss driving.”

He raised a brow.

“I was driving all the time, before,” she said, staring at the highway with a tad of wistfulness as they passed a billboard announcing the nearby ‘Gator Chateau.’ “When I was trying to find my family. Lots of highway rest stops, really terrible vending machine dinners…” she looked over and smiled at him. “Roadside attractions.”  
  
“Yes, I can see why you missed-” his eyes flicked to another sign. “The opportunity to view the world’s largest accordion.”

She laughed, and the sound made him feel lighter.

“It’s nice, though,” she said. “Having a place for the baby.”  
  
And a place for her, he hoped. He didn’t say it aloud. He knew that her decision to move back into the compound was they’d strong-armed her into, but it as the right choice, he was sure.

They drove for a little while longer, until the surrounding swamp was swallowed by the dense foliage. When they finally pulled toward the exit, Hayley stretched her limbs slowly and sighed, her hand drifting down again to the swell of the child.

“I don’t think this kid likes road trips,” she said, before she inhaled sharply, and Elijah threw a quick look at her.

“It’s okay,” she said, automatically. “Sometimes she turns, and- here-”  
  
Hayley caught his wrist, the sensation of her fingertips briefly on his skin and brought his palm down over to her stomach before he could protest. Sure enough, there was the sensation of a ripple under his palm, and for a moment his mind went blissfully blank of whatever the appropriate thing would be to say.  

Hayley’s palm covered the back of his hand, keeping him in place there for a moment. “Do you feel that?”

Elijah inhaled slowly through his nose. He managed to turn his eyes forward, driving carefully even though his attention strained toward the sensation of her hand against his, the feel of her. “Does that hurt you?”  
  
Hayley shrugged, keeping his hand firmly in place with her own. He nearly flinched when the baby stirred again, pressing against the palm of his hand and Hayley smiled softly at him.  
  
“Elijah.”  
  
“Mm?”  
  
“You have to turn there,” she said sweetly, pointing with her other hand toward a large concrete building, amidst a massive parking lot.

He blinked, and managed another smile before he withdrew his hand from her. She let him go, this time, and settled back in her seat. When he’d pulled in to park, he glanced at her again.

"Thank you," she said, meeting his eyes. "I just needed to get out of there. I think I'm feeling a little cooped up."  
  
She'd had the run of the Bayou before, so he could understand that, even though he didn't see the compound as a prison. "My pleasure."

"You know," she said, leaning back to stretch before she undid her seatbelt. "I don't think you're like anyone I've ever met, Elijah." 

He held himself very still, but she did not go on. She smiled back at him, comfortable and slow, and instead he found himself listening to the sudden quickening of her heartbeat. Elijah exhaled, unclipping his seatbelt, deciding that even if they were in the middle of nowhere in a massive parking lot, he wouldn’t be able to resist kissing her right now.

Hayley’s phone buzzed. She glanced down at it, and the moment was suddenly broken. She saw the text message and grinned. ”So-” she said, glancing back at him. “I didn’t exactly tell you everything.”  
  
A cryptic warning that never seemed to bode well, when coming from her. He glanced at her apprehensively. Hayley’s grin deepened and she threw her gaze to somewhere beyond the windshield. Elijah followed it.

Rebekah was standing in the parking lot, a few rows over, phone in hand. He slid out of the car, smiling despite himself at the sight of his sister. She had already begun walking quickly toward them, and by the time Hayley had gotten out Rebekah had embraced her.

Hayley hugged her tightly. “I’m so glad you could come-”  
  
“Please-” Rebekah said. “Look at you, Mother Wolf! You’re about ready to-”  
  
“If you say _pop_ , I’ll kill you,” Hayley said dryly. Rebekah grinned again before she finally turned to her brother.

It had only been a few weeks since Rebekah had left, but Elijah found himself relieved to see her again. She threw her arms around him tightly and he smiled at the sudden fierceness of her embrace.

“Elijah-” she breathed. “How are you- how is everything- no, don’t tell me, I really don’t want to know-”  
  
“I would have thought you’d be in France by now, at least,” he said, as soon as she’d let go.

Rebekah shrugged nonchalantly. “Revisiting some old haunts up the East Coast. Maybe Europe, eventually. But I was in South Carolina when Hayley called, so...”  
  
It was still quite the distance. His sister must have been missing them. He gave her an appreciative look, and Rebekah dismissed it with a flick of her hair.

“I can see that you wouldn’t want to have missed...this,” he said, glancing over the sunny parking lot, where dozens of people were moving slowly in and out of the wide sliding doors.

“Where exactly are we?” he said, glancing at Hayley.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Rebekah said, grinning.

* * *

If anything earmarked the 21st century, it was the creation of a concrete monstrosity like this.

Hayley seemed happy, though. There were dozens of people milling through, whole families including children, and Elijah and Rebekah were reluctantly moving through the crowd as Hayley pored over the bedroom sets and toys. Her brother seemed to take-“ _The_ _…warehouse?”-_ in stride, but Rebekah noted the degree of bafflement that flickered minutely over his features. Unsettling Elijah was always amusing.

Rebekah knew her brother. It was only Hayley’s obvious pleasure that kept him from turning on his heel and heading for the nearest antique store in search of anything that wasn’t composed entirely of cardboard, plastic screws, and bastardized Scandinavian nouns.

Elijah was currently bent solicitously over the girl, his hand resting ever-so-slightly against the small of her back. Hayley’s whole body was inclined toward him, but even if she briefly closed the gap, he’d step back again, maintaining the appropriate amount of distance.

A stab of irritation resonated somewhere in her throat as Rebekah noted how Elijah’s attention was trained on her. There was a certain degree of pathetic in it. Hayley didn’t know her brothers as well as she did, but for _Elijah_ , this was practically fawning. A century ago, she might have had to do something to bring that attention back to her, despite the fact they were having a nice outing. Maybe knock over that display of cheap picture frames. Or eat the checkout bagger.

She managed to resist the temptation, and settled on standing beside them, glancing at a flimsy-looking wooden table and chairs.

“Maybe Nick would have refrained from torching the Paris apartments if he’d realized how difficult it would be to find quality craftsmanship nowadays,” she said airily.

Elijah’s hand dropped from Hayley, and Rebekah felt a stab of remorse before she pushed it away and maneuvered between them and took her brother’s arm. It was an uncommon enough gesture that he actually tore his eyes from Hayley for a second to glance at his sister with a small smile.

“Probably not,” he said, ruefully.

“Should I even ask why- or when?” Hayley said.

“My sister killed one of his favorite witches in 1534, if I remember correctly."

Damn. That was right. She’d forgotten that was partially her fault.

Hayley glanced at Rebekah with a small twist of her lips.

“It’s not my fault he used to surround himself with the most tedious sluts he could find,” she said, with a hint of annoyance. “I suppose we can be grateful he grew out of that phase.”

“The arson? Or the tedious sluts?” Hayley said.

“The arson. Mostly.”

“I am,” Elijah said, with a hint of irony. “I lost a Caravaggio in that fire.”

Rebekah snickered, and then glared at a woman who nearly brushed against them with her cart overflowing with small plastic knick-knacks. The woman quickened her step and hurried away.

“Well,” her brother said, glancing at the nearby wares with a flicker of distaste. “I imagine if we were to set any of this ablaze, it would go up in mere seconds.”

Hayley smirked, eyeing the particularly garish blue-yellow-and-red couch on display. “Promise?”

Rebekah glanced at the other woman, another smile tugging the corner of her mouth unwillingly. “Come on,” she said, with a put-on air. She dropped Elijah’s arm and went for Hayley instead. “Let’s see if we can find _anything_ that won’t seriously stunt my future niece’s sense of style in her formative years.”

She steered Hayley away from her brother.

It had taken the better part of an hour of looking what felt like every single bedroom set and dresser in the entire store to find something Hayley liked. Even Elijah’s patience wasn’t up to reviewing each possible option, and by the time they’d selected one (white, soft closing, brass finishings, clearly the best of the lot) he’d only needed a little cajoling to be tasked in retrieving it and getting it into the car while Rebekah and Hayley inspected the children’s toys.

Everything was in soft pastel colors and shaped like cute animals, and Rebekah glanced over all of them with a critical eye.

One of the shop workers, wearing a tragically orange apron, brushed by Rebekah as she brandished a pricing gun. Rebekah sighed as she sifted through a large bin of stuffed- were those sheep?

“What did you like, when you were little?” Hayley said absently, glancing at a stack of a princess hats with a small grimace.

Rebekah laughed lightly. “My father’s and brothers’ weapons, mostly.”

 Hayley raised a brow and dropped the stuffed animal she’d been holding that was covered in iridescent fabric. “Yeah. I didn’t do much of this... kind of stuff either.”

“Well,” she said, glancing at the options available. “We can see if they have a stuffed sword, maybe.”

Hayley snorted softly, sifting half-heartedly through the bin. The rest of the families and shoppers had slowly filtered out, leaving the two women alone. It was about time.  
  
"I wonder if she'll be like me," Hayley said, and Rebekah glanced at her- surprised by the faint note of vulnerability. "I don't think I ever owned anything pink."

"Maybe," Rebekah said, smiling. "Just promise me you'll let her learn to fight, if she wants."

Hayley grinned. "I think between all the Mikaelsons and werewolves, she'll learn."

The thought was amusing. Hayley and Elijah teaching her how to fight. Klaus teaching her how to cheat. And her Aunt Beks... there was a stab of regret, there. She'd gotten her freedom, but it had cost almost too much. She frowned to herself, before her brow furrowed. She dug her hand into the bin she'd been perusing, dragging out a soft, grey-and-brown stuffed wolf amidst the soft, white blobs of the stuffed sheep. She smirked before she tossed it at Hayley.

Hayley caught it, and laughed. 

Rebekah suddenly was aware of the curious silence around them. She dropped the other stuffed animal in her hand and turned over her shoulder-  
  
A sharp, piercing pain sizzled along the synapses of her brain and Rebekah gasped, clutching her temple as she nearly staggered to her knees.

“Vampire-!” the shopgirl hissed, clutching her price gun in one hand while she flung out her other, bearing down on Rebekah. From far away, she heard Hayley’s exclamation.

“Hayley-” she called. “Get out of here-”  
  
She screwed up her face and bared her teeth, turning on the witch- only to get slammed back harder that time. Elijah was in the parking lot- Hayley was just as vulnerable as she was to this kind of magic, but apparently the witch had decided to take out the vampire first...

“HEY-” Hayley shouted.

The witch turned on her heels, flinging her arms out. Her orange smock billowed slightly as she leaned forward on her toes, casting a spell in a wavery breath.

Rebekah moved. The witch flung her arm up again, throwing the her hard back against a shelf, and turned back to face Hayley.

Hayley had grabbed one of the light pink children’s chairs. “You know, all I wanted was _one day_ that I could just do, you know, normal _things_ ,” she snarled, brandishing it in both hands. “But that’s too much to ask, apparently-”

The witch flung out of her hand, but Hayley was already swinging. She brought the chair down on the side of the witch's temple, and the sound was like a wooden baseball bat hitting a home run. The witch stumbled, knocked off balance, and staggered.

Too late.

Rebekah seized her by the hair from behind and jerked her head to the side, cutting her off as she bit down hard with a snarl. There were a few seconds of struggle before the witch finally slumped, and Rebekah reared back, fangs and chin bloody.

Hayley was breathing hard, her eyes flashing yellow.

“You incredible idiot,” Rebekah breathed, glaring at Hayley. “I told you to get out of the way.”

Hayley dropped the chair and threw her a glare to match. “Yeah, you’re welcome.”

“I can take on a single witch,” she said scornfully. “Do you know what my brother would do to me if I let something happen to you or the baby?”

Hayley snorted. “Well, Klaus doesn’t have to know everything,” she said. “And I’m not going to tell him, so unless you’re writing him postcards-”

“Like I’m even talking about Klaus,” Rebekah snapped, and Hayley looked like she was suddenly torn between a retort and looking pleased. She rolled her eyes, and grabbed the scruff of the witch’s polo collar. Thankfully, they weren’t exactly short on hiding places. She pulled open one of the large storage cabinets. “You should have run.”  
  
“Yeah, well, us girls have to stick together, right?” Hayley said, the corner of her mouth creeping up.

Fantastic. Rebekah was torn between amusement and irritation at having her own words thrown back at her. She settled on pursing her lips and getting in the last word. “I guess Mikaelsons always did have more looks than sense.”

“I’m not a Mikaelson.”

“Sure about that?”

* * *

The helpful shop assistants (who, Elijah was sure, were very helpful normally, but who had found themselves going the extra mile in this instance) had finally loaded the car. He’d headed back to the entrance, only to find Hayley and Rebekah already on their way out, a tad breathless. Hayley was clutching a small stuffed wolf.

His brow furrowed, and it took a second for his senses to catch up with him again, enough to identify the faint tang of blood on the air.

“What happened?” he demanded, his eyes raking both the women. They looked fine.

“It’s fine, Elijah,” Rebekah said grimly. “Just a witch who apparently had nothing better to do than give me a _splitting_ headache.”  
  
Elijah felt tension throb in his temple. “What?”

“It’s okay,” Hayley said. “We took care of it.”  
  
He gaped at them for a moment, before he threw a look at his sister- who’s smile, he noted, was a bit bloodier than normal.

“Sad you missed out?” Rebekah said, wiping the corner of her mouth with her thumb before she briefly sucked the tip and smiled at Elijah, in that bold and brassy way that always made him simultaneously exasperated and fond of his sister. “I put the body in one of those hideous cabinets.”

“You realize it won’t take very long for someone to find her,” he said.

“Please, Elijah. Idiot witches that didn’t even realize they were attacking an Original and a very pissed off pregnant werewolf-? At least a half hour, and by that time-”

From somewhere behind them, there was a scream. Elijah accomplished the frankly Herculean task of not rolling his eyes and reached for Hayley.

“I don’t think they liked the redecorating,” Hayley said breezily, but allowed Elijah to guide her out, Rebekah close on their heels. Thankfully, the humans were far more interested and curious about the source of the screams than walking away from them. They crossed the parking lot in record time.

Rebekah gave Elijah another fierce, quick hug, and hugged Hayley as well.

“You two get going,” she said. “I’ll make sure it all goes smoothly.”  
  
Elijah glanced at her, but nodded. Rebekah could manage herself. The local police force wasn’t on vervain. She hugged him again, and exhaled.

 ”Keep an eye on Niklaus,” she said softly, and grinned. “I wish I could see his face when he realized you lot ditched the antique furniture for unassembled corkboard.”

 Elijah blinked, before he glanced at the large box in the back of the car and back at his sister. “What do you mean?”

“You put it together at home, Elijah,” Hayley said.

“You mean to tell me that you’re paying for the privilege of building your own furniture?” he said slowly.

“Oh, I’m not building anything,” Hayley said, and gave him a winning smile as she slipped past him and into the passenger seat of the car.

Her smile, as always, tightened something in his chest and so it took a moment for the full impact of her words to register. He glanced at Rebekah in silent question.

“And no compelling humans to do it, brother,” Rebekah said, smirking at her brother. “That’s cheating.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Coming soon: the sequel where Elijah, Klaus, and Marcel attempt to assemble a dresser.
> 
> (I'm kidding.)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> (maybe)


End file.
